1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle hood apparatus designed to detect collision of a vehicle with an object and then operate an actuator attached to the vehicle, such that a hood of the vehicle is lifted up to absorb impact of the object thereon occurred subsequently to the collision.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicle hood apparatuses are known in the art. These types of apparatuses are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI-11-28994 entitled xe2x80x9cSENSOR SYSTEM FOR PROTECTING PEDESTRIANxe2x80x9d.
The disclosed sensor system includes a lift mechanism, a detection means for detecting the presence of a pedestrian, a speed sensor for detecting a speed of a vehicle, and a controller for controlling the lift mechanism on the basis of information transmitted from the detecting means and speed sensor thereto. When the pedestrian is hit by a vehicle and thereby thrown into impact on a hood of the vehicle, the lift mechanism lifts up a hood of the vehicle to reduce the impact of the pedestrian thereon. The detection means is mounted at a front bumper of the vehicle.
When serviced, the vehicle with the hood opened travels on a test bed. At this time, an operator may unintentionally contact or strike the detection means with tools to thereby undesirably operate the sensor system.
The system is preferably operated with the hood fully closed.
An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle hood apparatus which can be advantageously operated identifying a state of the hood of the vehicle.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle hood apparatus designed to detect collision of a vehicle with an object and operate actuators attached to the vehicle, such that a hood of the vehicle is lifted up to absorb impact of the object thereon occurred subsequently to the collision, the apparatus comprising; (a) a hood lock for locking a front end of the hood to a vehicle body of the vehicle; (b) a hood lock sensor for detecting a locking/unlocking state of the hood lock; and (c) a control unit for controlling the actuators on the basis of information transmitted from the hood lock sensor; the control unit including: (i) a hood lock determination means for determining the state of the hood lock; and (ii) an alarm lamp driving means for driving an alarm lamp provided in the vehicle when the hood lock determination means determines that the hood lock is in the unlocking state.
The vehicle hood apparatus of the present invention detects the collision of the vehicle with the object. Subsequently, the control unit of the apparatus operates the actuators to thereby lift up the hood of the vehicle. At this time, the apparatus preferably identifies the state of the hood lock provided for locking the front end of the vehicle body. When the vehicle is serviced with the hood opened, the vehicle hood apparatus need not be operated. Further, the hood apparatus could be improperly operated if the hood lock incompletely locks the hood (i.e., the hood lock is in the unlocking state). When the hood lock is held in the locking state (i.e., the hood lock locks the hood in place), the apparatus is properly operated. Therefore, the control unit is required to identify the locking/unlocking state of the hood lock for effective operation of the vehicle hood apparatus. To accomplish this, the control unit is provided with the hood lock determination means for determining the state of the hood lock. When the hood lock determination means determines that the hood lock is in the unlocking state, the alarm lamp driving means is operated to turn the alarm lamp on. The thus arranged vehicle hood apparatus is effectively or advantageously operated.
Preferably, the control unit further includes an operation determination means for determining whether the actuators are caused to operate, the operation determination means preventing the actuators from operating when the hood lock is in the unlocking state.
When the hood lock is in the unlocking state, the vehicle hood apparatus need not or should not be operated. In such a case, the apparatus is not operated. Thus, the function of the vehicle hood apparatus is not impaired.